RALEIGH – Amazon plans soon to open a retail store in Raleigh’s Crabtree Valley Mall.
According to its website, the store will open in the near future.
Called Amazon 4-star, the store will offer what Amazon calls “customer favorites from Amazon.com.”
Amazon 4-star
4-star refers to ratings Amazon customers assign to products they buy.
“Everything in the store is rated 4 stars and above. a top seller or new and trending,” Amazon says.
An image Amazon published of a store shows a wide variety of goods, from electronics, household products to books and toys.
Amazon has had “pop-up” stores in the Triangle previously.
The 4-star locations join a growing number of “brick and mortar” stores as Amazon expands beyond its already massive Internet base. They include:
- Amazon go (food, groceries)
- Amazon Books
- Amazon pop up
- Amazon 4-star
The Raleigh store would join a lineup of some 30 stores spread across 17 states.
So how are these stores different?
“Like Amazon Books, Amazon 4-star is designed all around customer discovery. We are an extension of amazon.com, and have filled our stores with familiar product groupings like you would see online,” Amazon explains.
“This includes a ‘Most-Wished-For’ section, ‘If You Like, Then You’ll Love’ pairings, ‘Highly-Rated’ tables, and more.”
However, the 4-star stores are traditional in one way: accepting payments.
“Unlike Amazon Go, we do not have ‘Just Walk Out’ technology,” Amazon says, referring to a touchless, cashless system.
Amazon’s footprint was already growing across North Carolina with a recently opened warehouse in Garner, a distribution facility in Durham and several other warehouses in other parts of the state.
